


Twenty-Seven Weeks+

by mardemaravilla



Series: This Little Life Inside Of You [8]
Category: Football RPF
Genre: Chelsea FC, M/M, Mpreg, Pregnancy, Unplanned Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-27
Updated: 2018-01-27
Packaged: 2019-03-07 22:47:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13445016
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mardemaravilla/pseuds/mardemaravilla
Summary: After their siesta one evening, Fernando asks the children, "Will you help Papa pick a name for the baby?"Nora perks up with excitement, "Peppa! Can we name her Peppa?! Please? I want a sister named Peppa!"





	Twenty-Seven Weeks+

**Author's Note:**

> Remember, this is set in 2012, so Elsa doesn't exist yet! I included a little nod to her here though :P

One weekend when he is twenty-seven weeks pregnant, Leo and Nora stay over at the apartment. Fernando is glad to have his children bouncing around, and he waddles after them as best as he can, playing games and telling stories.

After their siesta one evening, Fernando asks the children, "Will you help Papa pick a name for the baby?"

Nora perks up with excitement, "Peppa! Can we name her Peppa?! Please? I want a sister named Peppa!"

Fernando cringes on the inside, but he smiles at his daughter and says, "Why don't we make a list of names we all like? And when we have enough, Papa will look through them and try to pick the best one."

"I don't want another sister," Leo pouts. "I want a brother."

Fernando explains to his children that the baby is going to surprise them, so he still doesn't know as yet if it's a boy or girl.

"Let's pick names for both. Papa will choose a name for a boy and a girl, and when the baby is born we'll know which one to use."

Nora and Leo agree and spend the entire evening huddled around their father's list, calling out names for him to write down.

_

"Peppa. Susie. Rebecca. Danny. Pedro. Aren't these all characters from Peppa Pig?"

"Nora's suggestions. Leo's are a little better, but only just."

"Paddington? Like the bear?" Juan's mouth twitches in amusement.

"He also suggested Spiderman, Iron Man and Hector, which isn't terrible."

Juan continues reading the list of names, "Milo is a good one. Who came up with that?"

"Either my mother or my sister. I asked them for suggestions and they each sent me a list of names longer than a highway," Fernando laughs.

Juan flips the page over, reading the names on the other side, "Have you found anything you like as yet?"

Fernando shrugs, "I like Emilia for a girl, but Nora hates it. She keeps pushing for Elsa, the princess from that ice movie."

Juan laughs and winces at the same time, "She'll sing that song so many times. If you're not sick of it already, you will be by the time you get out of hospital with the baby."

The two of them laugh together more, and Fernando enjoys the softness of Juan's smile as he scans the sheet of names once more.

"Did you decide on any names for a boy?" He asks. "I came up with Rocco last night; Rocco Jose Torres."

Fernando wrinkles his nose in distaste.

"You don't like Rocco?" Juan laughs. "I know your dad would at least appreciate the Jose."

Fernando flips through the book of baby names Olalla lent him, but he doesn't actually look for anything. The whole business of choosing names has raised a worrying concern that Juan has now accidentally brought up.

"What am I going to do about a last name?" Fernando sighs. "I know I said I was doing this alone, but the baby’s supposed to have two last names. If I give the baby Torres Sanz everyone will know that there’s no other dad, and I don’t want to make my child to live with that kind of scrutiny."

Juan considers things silently for a while. His blue eyes stare unfocused at the rug and Fernando presses a deeper crease into the dog-eared corner marking the page where he and Olalla found Nora’s name years ago.

"I think that if you want to raise your baby alone, then Torres Sanz is a perfectly good name. You won’t need to announce it to anyone except doctors for the first few years and by then I’m sure you’ll have worked something out, or it won’t even be an issue. Besides, here in England people only ever pay attention to the first last name anyway; I’m just Mata and you’re just Torres." He pauses for a moment and then laughs through the blush blooming under his beard, "There’s an idea; Mata Torres as a last name."

"Juan, don’t joke," Fernando smiles, but his heart races a little at the sound of their names joined like that.

"I’m sorry," Juan says, and still smiling he asks, "So you really don’t like the name Rocco?"

-

Fernando doesn’t choose Rocco, but he has trouble deciding what else might be a good option. When league football pauses for the international break, he decides to fly to Spain to see his family. Juan gets called up for international duty, so they travel to Madrid together and part ways at the airport.

"I’ll call you tonight, okay?”

"Juan, if you worry like that there will be no room in your head for football. Enjoy your time with the team. Tell everyone I say hello and that I’ll visit in the summer when the baby is on the other side of me."

Juan laughs, "I’m still calling. You can’t get rid of me that easily."

In the private lounge where they wait for their pick-ups, Fernando glances around quickly before bestowing a sweet kiss on Juan’s lips. When they part, the shorter man looks dazed and love-struck, and Fernando can’t help but laugh and kiss him again.

His father comes to pick him up and hugs him tightly at the airport door. In the car he makes sure Fernando is buckled in securely and places a hand on his son’s bulging stomach.

“ _Mi hijo_ ,” he says with tears brimming in his eyes, and that’s enough to make Fernando start crying too. “No, no, don’t cry! No, Nando! I’m sorry.” His father fusses.

Fernando laughs through his tears and makes his father begin the familiar drive to his family home in Fuenlabrada. Once home, he’s greeted by his mother, his sister, his brother and their families. There’s a hearty meal spread on the table and although it’s early, they all sit down to eat.

Fernando hasn’t felt so relaxed in a long time. Everyone is laughing and talking and he can’t help but love them all so much. These are the people he has known all his life here in the home he grew up in. He remembers angrily chasing his brother down the hallway whenever they fought over toys. He remembers crawling into his sister’s bed during thunderstorms, shaking with fear until her quietly whispered stories would lull him to sleep. He remembers his mother and father scolding him in the living room for skipping school to play football. Before he knows it, he’s crying again and his sister is laughing and holding him to her chest just like she used to when he was little. His mother is crying and squeezing his father’s hand and his brother is rolling his eyes fondly as his wife playfully pinches him. Fernando thinks that his family is perfect, and Torres Sanz is the perfect last name after all.

-

He talks about it with his mother and sister over the next few days. He tells them that of all the girls’ names he’s read through, he likes Nora’s choice of Lola best.

“What about Lola Paz?” Maria says charmingly, and Fernando rolls his eyes good-naturedly as he agrees to use his sister's middle name in case he has a daughter.

With that decided on, he asks for their opinion on a boy’s name.

“I can’t decide on anything. Juan keeps trying to sell me on the name Rocco for some reason. I don’t know why he’s obsessed with it.”

“What?” Maria asks. “He doesn’t want you to name the baby after him? I thought Juan Manuel Mata Torres was such a good name. He really prefers Rocco instead?”

Fernando chokes on the water he’s drinking and his mother rubs his back gently.

“Now, Mari. Leave your brother alone. You’re already getting your way with one name, allow him some choice with the other.”

“Sorry,” Fernando’s sister says with confusion. “I wasn’t trying to be pushy. I just meant…I mean, I guess I just thought that you’d want that for a boy’s name. The two of you…” She trails off for a while before finishing, “Well I guess with the way things are kind of messy, it might be best not to.”

Messy doesn’t even begin to cover it, Fernando thinks. Still, he squeezes his sister’s hand gently.

“It’s okay. I know you weren’t trying to be pushy. Things are still complicated at best, so for now I’m giving the baby our last name, and whatever first names I choose are going to be just this baby’s alone, and nobody else’s. Well, except yours of course,” he grins.

She laughs a little, but he can tell that she still feels a little admonished by their mother’s gentle scolding, “Are you really going to use Torres Sanz?”

“Yeah. Lola Paz Torres Sanz sounds good, right?”

His mother nods warmly, “It sounds wonderful.”

They discuss it for a while longer before Maria has to leave to pick her kids up from school. When it’s just Fernando and his mother left, he shakes his head at her.

“You didn’t tell Mari about the father, did you?”

Flori shoots her son a look, “You didn’t tell _me_ about the father, so what was there to tell her?”

Fernando appreciates that and he leans into the plush sofa to take the pressure off of his back.

“I made a real mess of things, didn’t I Mama?”

She shifts closer to her son and pulls him to lean on her shoulder.

“A big mess, _hijo_. But, the world doesn’t stop for messes and neither should you. Just make the best of what you have right now, even if there doesn’t seem to be a lot to work with. You have to focus on giving your baby the best chances in life, no matter what. Maybe you made a mistake, but your baby shouldn’t be affected by that. You have to work hard now to make sure that this _milagro_ has the same chances that Leo and Nora do. Nothing should be different. You owe it to this child, no matter how he or she came about.”

Fernando nods, slow tears leaking onto the shoulder of his mother’s shirt.

“I know. I worry for the baby, mostly. I don’t want him or her to grow up with this environment of speculation that the media is creating. Once they find out that I’m just using my own last name, it’ll only get worse, I’m sure. I wish there was a way to prevent all of that, but I can’t.”

Flori is quiet for a little while before saying, “If you wanted to, you could bring the baby here. Things would be different in Fuenlabrada. They would be easier. I could look after my grandchild while you play football, and then when you have time off you could come here or I could bring the baby to you.”

“You would do that, Mama?”

Flori nods, “Of course. You’re _my_ baby, and I’d do anything for you. If you need the help, I’ll give it to you.”

Fernando sniffles again, and he feels the baby shifting gently inside of him. He thinks of his apartment, and returning to it, empty, at the end of every day. In the past few months he has been comforted by the motions within him when he lies alone in bed at night. He thinks of the nursery he has carefully painted and decorated in shades of soft green and white. He thinks of the sorrow of being parted from his older children, and the thought of willingly parting from the youngest breaks his heart.

“I can’t, Mama. I know that being here would be simpler, but I want to be a part of my child’s life. I don’t want you to have to call me to tell me about first steps, or a first day at school. I want to be there, like you said; giving this child as much as I gave to Nora and Leo. I’d be happy to have you around, or to come here more often if the pressure is too much, but I can’t just cause this whole situation and not be a part of trying to make it better.”

“I knew that I raised you well,” Flori smiles, patting her son lovingly. “You do the best you can, and whenever you need a rest, or even just an extra hand, you let me know, okay?”

Fernando curls against his mother’s side and the baby kicks. He places Flori’s hand on his belly to feel the thumping and she laughs.

“I remember when that was you inside of me,” she says, kissing his forehead tenderly, and just like that Fernando is crying again, but the tears are happy ones and his baby twists and turns in approval.

-

“So not Rocco?” Juan says sadly when they’re back in London.

“Not Rocco,” Fernando smiles. “But it’s one of the names you liked; Mateo. Mateo Felix Torres Sanz.”

Juan nods, "I do like it. Lola Paz and Mateo Felix; peace if it’s a girl and happiness if it’s a boy. I think those are great names, Fer."

Fernando nods, "The Paz was my sister's idea, but I like it a lot. My mother helped me choose Mateo, and I thought that since I was using one of the girl names Nora chose, it was only fair that I use one of Leo's picks for a boy." 

"Do you think that’s enough to stop jealous tears?" Juan takes Fernando’s feet into his lap, massaging gently.

"For now," Fernando says. He relaxes into the corner of the couch as Juan rubs his tender muscles. "I’m sure someone will be upset when the baby is actually born and only one of the names gets used."

Juan laughs and comments on the funny ways of children, and Fernando smiles. As appreciative as he is of his mother's offer of help, he doesn't think that he could live with himself if he only watched from afar, instead of having a hand in his child's growth and development. He can’t wait to have the baby here, toddling alongside Leo and Nora and laughing at Juan’s silly faces. Though the baby might be the result of a mistake, Fernando promises himself that he won't make any big mistakes again, especially not one that will impact any of his children's lives negatively. He listens to Juan's delighted chatter, and Fernando feels secure that he’s finally making the right choices now, after starting this all with a terrible one.

**Author's Note:**

>  _paz_ : peace  
>  _feliz_ : happy (the word _feliz_ comes from the Latin _felix_ which means happy, successful, lucky, fortunate, etc.)
> 
> For anyone unfamiliar with Spanish naming customs, a person usually has TWO last names:  
> \- the **FIRST last name** of their **father**  
>  \- the _FIRST last name_ of their _mother_  
>  Therefore, they have one name from each parent.
> 
> Here, Fernando is worried, because his kid's name should look like  
> Baby **Mystery Dad's first last name** _Torres_
> 
> That's why Maria assumes the baby's last name is **Mata** _Torres_ , because she thinks Juan is the impregnator-dad and Fer is the carrier-dad.
> 
> If that's a little confusing here are a couple examples to hopefully make it clearer:  
> Fernando **Torres** _Sanz_ , here Torres is his dad's first last name and Sanz is his mom's first last name.  
> Olalla **Domínguez** _Liste_ , here Domínguez is her dad's first last name and Liste is her mom's first last name.  
> Nora **Torres** _Domínguez_ , here Torres is her dad's first last name and Domínguez is her mom's first last name.  
> Leo **Torres** _Domínguez_., here Torres is his dad's first last name and Domínguez is his mom's first last name.  
>  If these kids have kids, then Nora's children would be Baby **Dad's Name** _Torres_  
>  And Leo's kids would be Baby **Torres** _Mom's Name_.
> 
> If it seems complex, it's just because most other cultures are familiar with just adopting the husband's/father's name on marriage and birth. This Spanish naming system is a very interesting way of annotating someone's lineage at a glance. I think it's pretty cool, and I know there are a couple other cultures which have similar practices. (I myself am not Spanish, so if I'm gotten that explanation wrong or mixed it up some how, please let me know so I can learn and share the right info!!)
> 
>  
> 
> PS: Frozen actually came out in November of 2013, but I wanted a way to include Elsa in here somehow, so I hope you can excuse the chronological discrepancy. ~~Also, I'm pretty sure this is exactly how Fernando and Olalla decided on the name Elsa.~~


End file.
